Damage to hair can result from exposure to excessive heat or cold, such as with blow-drying, and exposure to sun or wind. Chemical treatments such as perming or coloring the hair also may cause hair to become weakened or damaged. Marketers of personal care products have commercialized many varieties of after-shampoo conditioners that contain ingredients which exert a conditioning effect on the hair. Unfortunately, the ingredients which condition hair also provide certain undesireable effects. Solid, nonvolatile ingredients such as fatty alcohols, resins, waxes, and oils are often used as conditioning agents. While such materials exert a very beneficial effect on hair, they also tend to promote greasy hair, or form a tacky surface on the hair which attracts dust and other airborne particulates. This causes hair to appear dull and dirty, and may also cause the hair to look flat with no body or fullness.
The use of alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) in hair care products is known. However, AHAs in general are water soluble, thus they tend to be rinsed off the hair with water and do not remain on the hair to provide a significant, substantive conditioning effect to hair. On the other hand, fatty alcohols do provide a substantive conditioning effect to hair, but may tend to cause the hair to become greasy, dull, and without body or fullness.
It has most unexpectedly been discovered that hair care compositions containing alpha and/or beta hydroxy acid esters provide a good substantive conditioning effect to hair, improve shine, body, combing, and fullness, and at the same time do not cause hair to become greasy or tacky.